Honeymoon: Hawaii/Disneyland?

[Lightning McQueen]

Hey everyone. I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice.

My fiance and I have decided to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon at the end of May! To cover the travel expenses from Washington, DC we are redeeming AAdvantage miles.

I learned that for the same amount of miles, we could do a 2-day layover in LA on the way back from Hawaii. This would give us just enough time to check out Disneyland! This is something I've always wanted to do. My fiance and I went to Disney World last December and had a blast. I just pitched this idea to her tonight and we're trying to decide on it.

The dilemma is -- do you give up the 2 extra nights in Hawaii for 2 nights in Disneyland, or do you make the most of being in Hawaii, knowing that you may never get a chance to go back out?

What do you guys think? Would this be worth doing?

[Lightning McQueen]

Hey everyone. I'd love to hear your thoughts and advice.

My fiance and I have decided to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon at the end of May! To cover the travel expenses from Washington, DC we are redeeming AAdvantage miles.

I learned that for the same amount of miles, we could do a 2-day layover in LA on the way back from Hawaii. This would give us just enough time to check out Disneyland! This is something I've always wanted to do. My fiance and I went to Disney World last December and had a blast. I just pitched this idea to her tonight and we're trying to decide on it.

The dilemma is -- do you give up the 2 extra nights in Hawaii for 2 nights in Disneyland, or do you make the most of being in Hawaii, knowing that you may never get a chance to go back out?

What do you guys think? Would this be worth doing?

[NJGIRL]

I would stick with doing Hawaii the whole time. There is so much to do there you can easily spend all of two weeks there and still not see everything.

[TheDuckRocks]

How many nights would you be staying in Hawaii? Please include both with and without the Disneyland layover. What Island or islands will you be visiting?
Too bad you can't do it on your way out, that would give you time to gradually get use to the time difference.

[NotaGeek]

I would say it depends on you and your spouse to be. Hawaii is marvelous and I could easily spend 2 weeks there, but if you are are Disney addict like everyone else on INTERCOT, a visit to Walt's Original Park can be Magic, and you can see most of both parks in 2 days if you have a plan.

[Lightning McQueen]

I would say it depends on you and your spouse to be. Hawaii is marvelous and I could easily spend 2 weeks there, but if you are are Disney addict like everyone else on INTERCOT, a visit to Walt's Original Park can be Magic, and you can see most of both parks in 2 days if you have a plan.

I am absolutely a Disney addict like everyone else here. Perhaps one of the worst.

The fiance -- she loved our trip to Disney World, but I would consider her an "addict" quite yet. My preference is to do the stop in Disneyland. She is willing to do it, but I get the feeling her preference is to stay in Hawaii.

[ozmom]

What is your length of stay in Hawaii and which island?

[faline]

What is your length of stay in Hawaii and which island?

I was about to ask the very same question!

[Lightning McQueen]

What is your length of stay in Hawaii and which island?

It would be a 7 night stay in Maui vs. a 9-10 night stay in Maui.

[Lightning McQueen]

How many nights would you be staying in Hawaii? Please include both with and without the Disneyland layover. What Island or islands will you be visiting?
Too bad you can't do it on your way out, that would give you time to gradually get use to the time difference.

Good thinking on the time difference! It would be a 7 night stay in Maui vs. an 9-10 night stay in Maui.

[TheDuckRocks]

I would go for the stop at Disneyland. Maui is beautiful and you will have a wonderful time there but a week is usually plenty of time. If you were doing more than one island you would need the extra time. If it's still there go to lunch at Longi's in Lahina (man, that's probably not spelled right). Everything we have ever eaten there is great but the Italian style grilled cheese sandwich is amazing.

[NotaGeek]

It would be a 7 night stay in Maui vs. a 9-10 night stay in Maui.

If you are only going to be on Maui, 7 days is more than enough. It's a small island and aside from sight seeing there's not much else to do besides golf or relax next to the beach (which is fine with me!).

[Lightning McQueen]

I know Maui is going to be fabulous. I guess my bigger question is: Is Disneyland worth the trouble?

I'm a huge Disney nerd and I'm sure I'd love it, but is it a must-do? How does it stack up against WDW?

The only attractions we'd do that we haven't done before are Toy Story Mania (huge draw for me), California Screamin', Monsters Inc., etc.

So...overall thoughts on Disneyland?

[NotaGeek]

I know Maui is going to be fabulous. I guess my bigger question is: Is Disneyland worth the trouble?

I'm a huge Disney nerd and I'm sure I'd love it, but is it a must-do? How does it stack up against WDW?

The only attractions we'd do that we haven't done before are Toy Story Mania (huge draw for me), California Screamin', Monsters Inc., etc.

So...overall thoughts on Disneyland?

You can't compare WDW and DLR -- there are many threads in Trip Reports that talk about the differences, so feel free to search among them. DLR is Walt's Park and you can see his influences everywhere. There are a million things and reasons to see the Original Disneyland, and to be honest, if you don't already feel the need to see it, then no one here is going to be able to convince you. I think if you are going under the idea that WDW is amazing and the DLR might not be as big and have as much to offer, then DLR is defintiely not going to meet your expectations.

DLR is smaller, there's only 2 parks, but the magic you feel knowing that Walt put his whole life into the experience and seeing HOW different it is truly amazing -- if you have the desire to see it, the whole DLR is a must do.